Of brothers and worries
by roxygoth
Summary: Mikey had a system. To anyone who knew him this would be incomprehensible as Hamateo-Michaelangelo did not have 'systems'. Except he did. One system was for the kitchen. The other - for his brothers. Obviously the one for his brothers was more important. So when he noticed his older brother acting strangely, he thought it best to put his system into practice.
1. Chapter 1

**Hey! Roxy Goth here. Been a while since I wrote for this fandom, but this idea would not leave me alone, so here I am.**

 **I do not own TMNT or anything associated with it in any way shape or form.**

Mikey had a system. To anyone who knew him this would be incomprehensible as Hamateo-Michaelangelo did not have 'systems' that was Leo and Donnie's departments. What Mikey had where wild plans that may or may not work depending on what that particular plan was.

That was true, except for two areas. One – the kitchen. You needed to have a plan in order to cook, even his wackiest pizza ideas where carefully thought out, even if they didn't look like it. The second area was more important – his brothers. This system had been built up of at least 12 years observing his brothers and making sure they were okay. [Leo wasn't he only one who frequently worried about the safety of the family, Mikey did to, he just didn't obsess over it for weeks].

Basically it was this. Each of his brothers had a way they usually acted. If they started breaking the way they usually acted it meant something was up. No might's, no maybe's, something was up. His job was then to find out what. Of course you had to take into account environmental factors, all of them where pretty stressed after another fight with the foot ninjas and/or purple dragons for instance, so slight personality shifts for a 1-3 days depending on what brother it was, was completely normal and thus no need for concern. The concern was if it lasted longer than it usually did.

Of course they each had their individual triggers as well. Leo, Mikey had noticed, had a pattern of stress, he'd be completely fine for a little while, then something would happen, it could be as major as a near-death incident or as minor as Raph staying out a little longer than necessary. The point was whatever it was would cause him to panic and worry and stress. And because Leo was Leo he didn't want to tell anyone about this worry, preferring instead to try and work it out himself. This had three possible outcomes. One, he would work it out himself. [Which didn't happen that often]. Two – he would go to Splinter about it. [Which happened about 25 percent of the time, especially if the problem was something relating to training]. Or the third one, which was the one Mikey personally hated the most, he'd go into a deep pit of despair and start panicking so much he had no idea how to stop. In Leo's case Mikey would first of all try annoying it out of him, which sometimes worked. If that didn't work he'd try and talk to him calmly and maturely when Leo was relaxed [so either just after meditation or an episode of Space Heroes]. If that didn't work Mikey would corner Leo and demand to know what was up. That one was rarely needed though, normally the first two worked fine.

That was Leo.

Raph's triggers were largely environmental and depending usually on what he'd seen while he was out with Casey and/or heard on the news. Say for instance some idiot robbed a hospital; Raph would first of all deal with the person who committed the crime in his own way. [Which Mikey didn't actually know and honestly preferred to keep it that way]. Then he'd start thinking about what could be done to stop these kind of things happening, which usually involved lasers around the premises and that kind of thing. [Raph might not have been as technological as Donnie but don't ever say he doesn't know his way around weapons] You could tell because the hot-head wold get even moodier than usual, increase the amount of times he went out, and cease speaking to family members for a while, particularly Leo. Now, unlike Leo Mikey didn't need to actually intervene as such, because Raph's methods for dealing with problems involved turning his aggression outwards onto the person who committed the crime instead of inwards onto himself. Which in Mikey's opinion was way better than Leo's strategy. What Mikey's part was, was to distract him from brooding over it too much. It hadn't happened yet, but his two oldest brothers did share a lot of similarities, even if they didn't think so, and Mikey was afraid that one of those might be internal agonising, following by internal destruction. So the youngest would tease and wind Raph up, Raph would then chase him over the lair and lo and behold like magic the tension was usually gone. Afterwards Raph would go punch his punching bag a little.

So that was Raph.

Donnie was the hardest. Donnie did not like admitting his feeling to anyone. Which wasn't that different to Raph and Leo, but at the same time it was majorly different. The stress his immediate older brother usually felt was nine times out of ten to do with his work. That formula wasn't working out how it should, this experiment didn't have the desired outcome and he had no idea why, the computer had lost all his work, another experiment had blown up in his face, ext. Science work, it might shock you to know, wasn't Mikey's forte. He understood more than Donnie probably gave him credit for, but he didn't understand the finer details. So he couldn't really give him advice. As a matter of fact none of the family really could, not even Sensei was technology minded. At least Donnie had April to go to for that sort of thing.

But for the remaining one out of ten, it was like Raph, environmental. Just like Raph, a news story, especially one's that involved wrong-doings against children, women and hospitals could really set Donnie of. But he wouldn't show it. Raph would at least lean forwardly intently, listen to the whole thing, wait until they described the perpetrator then grab his stuff and go on the hunt for them. The only clue Donnie was upset was the slight whitening of the knuckles, his mouth would go into a firm line of disapproval, like Leo's whenever Raph returned from a really late night out and Donnie would tap in annoyance throughout the whole news story, then once it had finished go 'Right' and remove himself to his lab. Like Raph with the criminal, Mikey didn't want to know what Donnie did while he was in there, but he was relatively certain it wasn't healthy.

Like Leo, Donnie bottled this up. Unlike Leo, going to Master Splinter wasn't an option. God knows why, but he wasn't Donnie so he couldn't answer that one. Unlike Raph, Donnie wasn't going to go stalking the roofs for the guy. What his purple-branded brother would do was bottle it up and not talk to anyone about the problem, and when that happened, no amount of getting Donnie annoyed would change that. Nor would asking him to talk and/or forcing him to talk. No with Donnie you had to wait for him to come to you, which was REALLY irritating, but sadly necessary.

Which was why Mikey was waiting in bed at 11:30, waiting to see whether tonight would be the night Donnie came to talk to him. It would happen. It had been 8 days of weird behaviour, there's gotta be a breaking point, right?

Unfortunately Mikey didn't have a clue what caused this sudden change in behaviour. He didn't even have a fight to fall back on. The Purple Dragons had been quiet and god knows what had happened to the Foot. Not that he was complaining, it was quite nice to go on patrol without nearly being killed occasionally.

11:45. Donnie would come in. He had to come in. Right?


	2. Of thinking and waiting

**Hey! Roxy Goth here, first of all thanks to my favouriters and followers. As for my reviewers…**

 **Guest 1 – Thank you for your complement regarding my writing style and the fact you liked the plot.**

 **Guest 2 – Thank you, hope you enjoy this chapter.**

 **See chapter 1 for the disclaimer**.

Mikey was struggling to keep his eyes open. He had a torch and was reading some of his comics to try and stop him dying of boredom. It was so quiet! Of course, that was likely to do with the fact it was 12:45 AM, but still. This was actually quite unusual. Staying up until 12:45 that is. Because they had training at 5AM, they went to bed at 11PM at the latest. Leo usually went before, whether to please Master Splinter or because by that time he was generally exhausted, Mikey still didn't know.

Raph would go to bed whenever the heck he got back, which was usually sometime between 1 and 3 AM. It was amazing Raph could function at 5AM with only 2 hours of sleep, but he could. Mikey himself went to bed at 11, except he didn't go to sleep. Like Donnie Mikey's brain refused to slow down at night, except the youngest was thinking about plot lines and art-related things, or just analysing the day and/or his brothers, rather than science stuff. So Mikey had to wind down by playing video games until his brain decided to let him go to sleep, which was usually, at the latest, an hour.

There he was analysing his brothers again. Normally he didn't mind, but it was now 12:50 and he did actually want to go to sleep. Once Mikey had got through another page and Donnie still hadn't put in an appearance, he made a deal with himself. If it got to 1AM and his immediate older brother still hadn't appeared he'd go to sleep. He wouldn't even have been up this long, but he'd got this sixth sense earlier on that something was going to happen tonight. It was kind of like Spiderman's Spidey-sense, but turtle version. The Turtle-sense. Cos that was a thing. Anyway, when he got it, there was no ignoring it. So in honour of his brain deciding to be really annoying Mikey had decided to celebrate by increasing the amount of time he'd been waiting for Donnie for from 11-12, to 11-1.

He better put in an appearance. It wasn't too late, it was 12:55. Still a whole five minutes. A lot could happen in five minutes. In comic books 5 minutes was enough time to diffuse a bomb, rescue the damsel in distress and exit the exploding building in a really cool pose. If a superhero could do that in five minutes, Mikey was sure Donnie could walk the five centremetres from his own room to his. Even if he was in his lab, that was still only twenty centremetres. Or…there about. Mikey had never been good with distances.

12:59. If Donnie didn't walk in in the next minute, Mikey would force him to talk tomorrow. Logically he knew that wouldn't work, it would only make Donnie clam up more, but after 2 hours relentlessly waiting Mikey was ready to strangle him.

1AM. That's it, he's out. You missed your chance Donnie. Missed your chance. Mikey carefully shut the comic and put it on the floor before placing the torch next to it and praying he wouldn't trip over it tomorrow. Hey, wouldn't be the first time. Anyway, once the torch was of and the comic was away, it was 1:01. 3 hours, 59 minutes till training. Great. Sensei was going to kill him. Ah, never mind, he'd say he was reading comics and lost track of time. It wouldn't even be a lie…kind of.

Mikey then laid his head on the pillow and prepared to go to sleep.

"Mikey?" Suddenly he heard Donnie's voice from the other side of his door. "Mikey?" The turtle in question sighed and sat up, rubbing at his eyes. Here it goes. This was it, whatever was bothering his brainy bro would be revealed tonight. He had better stay awake for it…

"Michelangelo?"

"Coming bro." Mikey said, making sure his voice sounding friendly, light and inviting, and definitely not 'what the hell are you doing disturbing me at 1 in the morning for?'. So he swung himself out of bed and opened the door to find, unsurprisingly, Donatello standing behind it. Donnie looked like he was choosing between running for the hills or having a conversation, so Mikey made the decision for him. "Nice to see you, welcome to the fortress de Mikey. Please wipe your feet on the way in."

Donnie gave a slight laugh, which was exactly what Mikey had been aiming for, before entering the room and closing the door. Mikey flashed him a wide smile. "So what's up? C'mon, sit down, make yourself comfy. Come tell Doctor Michelangelo all about it."

Donnie looked at him, clearly surprised as well as half-asleep. "What? You know what's up?" He sounded panicky, Mikey immediately decided calming his brother down would be the best option if he going to get anything out of him.

"I don't have a clue, bro." He said, honestly. "But what I do know is that you don't usually appear at eight past one outside my bedroom door wanting a conversation. You follow me?"

Donnie nodded, still looking a bit dazed. Mikey frowned, noticing, not for the first time that there were bags under Donnie's eyes. Bags that looked a shell of lot more noticeable than they looked 3 days ago. He also noticed Donnie's hands were trembling slightly, and his eyes were nervously darting around the room as if he thought something was going to come out the shadows and attack him. To ease his tension a bit Mikey fished the torch out and switched it on. He didn't want to risk switching the actual light on in case Leo or Raph woke up and saw it and demanded to know what was going on. There were times that Leo and/or Raph's contributions were both needed and necessary. This wasn't one of those times. If Mikey wanted them there in order to have a four-way heart to heart conversation he'd to it during the day, or at the best early evening. Not quarter past 1 in the morning. If Leo or Raph came in now, or horror upon horror, both of them, then Donnie would clam up. Mikey did not want Donnie to clam up. Although, as usual, it looked as though Lady Luck didn't give a monkeys what Mikey wanted as Donnie had completely clammed up. Great, looks like this was going to take more patience than originally thought. Fine…he could work with that…

"Bro, you do know I'm not a mind-reader, right?" Mikey checked. "I can't help you if you don't tell me what's up. So start talking. Please." It might have sounded harsh, but sometimes a little harshness was necessary to get someone to _open up._

Donnie gave a start and looked around as if just discovering where he was. "Oh right. Of course."

"Of course, yeah." Then there was silence. For two minutes. Mikey felt like screaming. But, knowing full well that wouldn't help, he willed himself to be patient and started to think about why Donnie didn't want to talk so he could rectify this. Because there was no way Mikey was sitting here till training started, in silence, with Donnie just staring at him. No sire. Then it clicked.

"Do you wanna go to the kitchen?" Donnie gave a little smile and then nodded. Mikey felt like punching the air, so he did. "Let's go then! Oh, we're off to see the kitchen, the wonderful kitchen of the lair!" He sang-whispered as he opened the door for Donnie to walk through before starting to skip the rest of the way in mock-imitation of the 'of-to-see-the-wizard' dance.

Mikey felt happier now. Of course Donnie hadn't been opening up. Mikey's room was opposite bat-eared Leo's and on the right of 'Tell-me-or-I'll –pound-you' Raph's. No wonder Donnie wasn't talking! He really did have a genius for a brother…


	3. Of talking and listening

**Hey! Roxy Goth here, sorry for not updating for ages, I've been busy. First up, thank you's.**

 **Guest 1 – Thank you for reviewing, I' taking it Conty means continue? In which case you'll be happy to know I am.**

 **Guest 2 – Thank you for reviewing. Yes Mikey is a great brother, I think, and this chapter should tell all.**

 **Aqua – I did mean for Mikey to be reading his comics, but I can see why you didn't think he was. My thought was he'd stay awake all that time because his mind was racing and he was thinking. I'm glad you like seeing inside Mikey's mind, I'm finding it quite fun to write! And you'll find out what's going on I this chapter.**

 **MagicWarrierDragon – Glad you love this. I'm glad I'm portraying Mikey well, I was a little worried about that. And yes, the brothers do look out for each other. Even if they do argue while doing it.**

 **Speakling-nexis137 – Thank you for the compliment! Glad you're enjoying it! And you're about to find out what happens next!**

 **See chapter 1 for the disclaimer and on with the story!**

Once Mikey had got Donnie sat down and comfortable he busied himself making hot chocolate for him. He would have made one for himself as well, but he wasn't in the mood. Once he'd finished it he passed it to Donnie who took it and then put it down pretty much straight away.

"Hot isn't it?" Mikey grinned. "I'd blow on it a bit if I were you."

Donnie took his advice, blowing small breaths onto the chocolate. Mikey sat and watched him for a while, trying to think how to start the conversation. Why were the hardest bits of conversations the beginning?

However he didn't need to, because his brother, giving up on the chocolate for now, spoke first. "This is good chocolate."

"Yes it is." Mikey replied, despite the fact he didn't have one and Donnie hadn't tasted his yet.

"Mikey…" Here it comes. "Do you remember when we all got sent to different worlds…"

Mikey felt like punching the air. So that was it! At last, they'd been sent to different worlds about two months ago. But it wasn't particularly scarring and the youngest had actually forgotten all about it, until now. Clearly his older sibling had not.

"Sure I do! Why, what's up?"

Donnie shuffled nervously. "Well…I never actually told you where I'd been, did I?"

"No you didn't." Mikey couldn't help himself he was grinning from ear to ear. He'd been wondering when they first told each other where they'd been sent to, why Donnie didn't want to discuss it. At the time he'd thought Donnie was simply wrapping his head around how awesome it had been.

"Well…"

"Oh, let me guess, let me guess! You and Einstein were in a lab together discovering the scientific way to make the bounciest trampolines!" There was a silence and Mikey looked over to see Donnie glaring back at him clearly not amused in the slightest. "Sorry. Got a little carried away there. Go on."

"Well, actually, no. I wish it was, god I wish it was, wouldn't that had been awesome! Me interacting with Albert Einstein…" Donnie's mind wondered of for a couple of minutes, and Mikey patiently waited till it decided to come back. "Sorry where was I?" There it was.

"Not in a lab with Albert Einstein."

"Right. No, I got sent to an alternative world where Shredder ruled everything." Donnie said it so airily he might have been saying 'I got sent to the kitchen and I had a pop tart'. Remembering Sensei and Leo's lessons about not speaking before thinking Mikey took a few seconds for his mind to process the information, and then spoke.

"The _Shredder_? _Ruled_? _Everything_?" Mikey confirmed, his purple-banded brother nodded.

"That's right."

Mikey paused, the atmosphere had gotton heavy, and he could see Donnie was really nervous, so he decided to crack a small dark-humoured joke. "And you're alive?"

Not the best one, he knew that. But he expected Donnie to at least give a little laugh. What he did not expect was for his brother to stare at him blankly, then a haunted expression to come over his face, then for him to start crying.

As Donnie sobbed Mikey's mind was racing. What? That wasn't meant to happen. What do I do now! Stop him crying, you idiot. How? By comforting him perhaps? Anything to stop Leo and Raph coming down here. Though saying that he wouldn't be adverse to Splinter popping up out of nowhere.

Mikey got up and sat in one of the chairs closer to Donnie so he was in a better position to rub the back of his shell soothingly. He hoped he was doing this right. Mikey knew how to keep his brothers happy and laughing and he knew the basics of what to do if they were upset, but he was better at keeping them happy. Although obviously that was failing…

After a solid minutes crying, Donnie stopped. Mikey quickly got something for him to dry his eyes with and threw it at him. "Sorry." Was the first thing Mikey said. "I didn't mean for you to get that… upset." He hadn't seen Donnie sob like that in a long time.

"I-it's okay, M-mikey. You weren't to know."

"Know what, what happened?" Mikey sat down again and made sure his listening ears were definitely switched on.

"Well, basically. The Shredder rules everything. April ran a resistance against him. The Rebels."

"Sounds like exactly the sort of thing she and Casey would do." Mikey said, thoughtfully.

Donnie looked at him in surprise before continuing. "Mikey, Casey wasn't there. He'd died in action before."

"Oh."

"Hmm. And Master Splinter had died as well. Protecting us." Now Mikey was definitely listening. This sounded horrible, part of him wanted to interject, but the other rarely-used more sensible side was telling him to shut up and listen, so he did.

Donnie was silent for a couple more minutes, evidently trying to get his head together. When he spoke it was in a dull emotionless tone. "Raph ad Leo had got into a major fight and Leo was now blind and Raph was missing one eye as well."

Like that made it better, Mikey scoffed to himself. He'd always knows left to their own devices Leo and Raph would end up grievously injuring, if not killing, themselves or each other. Here was his proof. Now he was definitely going to work on stopping them fighting. Hold on…

"What about me? What was I like?"

Donnie looked at him, solemnly. "You were missing part of your arm."

"Part of my arm!?"

"Yeah." Donnie reached for his left arm and indicated just below the elbow. "From there onwards was gone."

"Geez. That must have really ruined my cooking skills."

That sentence seemed to spark something in his brother, because he quickly whipped his hand away. "Is everything a joke with you!?" He hissed.

"What?" Mikey's brain was having trouble keeping up.

Donnie in a, quiet, blind temper swung his hand out, knocking the now-lukewarm supposedly hot chocolate to the floor where it shattered into a thousand pieces. "Whoa, okay, Donnie. Donatello, look at me." Donnie did so. "I'm sorry, okay? Really I am. I didn't think properly. I'm a little in shock, this is really heavy stuff, dude. How have you coped with it for the past two months?"

Donnie went silent again and Mikey took the opportunity to collect the pieces of ruined cup from the floor and throw them in the bin. He was just cleaning up the spill when Donnie spoke. "I suppose must have blocked it out. The mind does that when it goes through a traumatic experience."

"And no doubt _that_ was traumatic." Mikey threw the rag in the sink before sitting back down next to Donnie. "But if it blocks it out, why are your remembering it?"

"I don't know. I'm good at physical side of being a doctor, not the psychology side. But if I had to hazard a guess I'd say something must have triggered the memories. I've been having them as a nightmare for the past two weeks. The answer is Mikey, I haven't got a clue."

Fair enough, Mikey thought. Even geniuses can't be expected to know everything. Then he thought of something else.

"So…where were you? The future you, I mean."

"They said I disappeared."

"Disappeared?"

"Yes."

"Where?"

"They don't know."

Mikey was incredulous. "What do you mean 'they don't know'!? I know us three might not be the best at knowing your every move but I think even we would notice _where_ you disappeared! Unless you went into a lamp like a genie…"

"Mikey."

"Sorry, but wouldn't that be cool? Genie Don. Can I grant you three wishes? Okay, I'll stop." He added seeing his brother looked ready to punch him.

"Anyway, I can't think where I disappeared to. I just can't think of anywhere important enough that I'd go without leaving a word to you guys. The only thing I can think of is if the Shredder kidnapped me. That's the only thing that makes logical sense."

"Excuse me." Mikey interjected. "How long where you gone for?"

"Thirty years."

"Thirt-thrty years!? You sure you didn't mis-hear and it was unlucky thirteen? No? Okay, fine, just asking. Geez, here I was thinking it was at the most five! Thirty!? Do you really think that we would not search for you for thirty years?"

"You were searching for me. That's how Casey died."

"Rubbish." Mikey was beginning to see the light now. "I have a theory regarding this. You want to hear it?"

"Go on then."


	4. Of theories and logic

_**Hey! Roxy Goth here. Okay, first up really sorry for not updating for just over 4 months. Secondly, I hope the wait is worth it. This is the longest chapter I've ever written for any of my stories. Thirdly, thank you to…**_

 _ **Guest – here's Mikey's theory.**_

 _ **Annea101 – Glad you like these stories.**_

 _ **AnimeGirl9894 - Sorry I haven't updated sooner, as mentioned before I really like writing Mikey POV. Glad you like my descriptive skills.**_

 _ **Guest – We do all cope in differently in difficult situations, I do think Mikey uses humour as a shield though. Not that I blame him, can you imagine what it's like living his life? I wouldn't want to.**_

 _ **gima2618 – Yes, Mikey is a very good brother.**_

 _ **Sparkling-nexis137 – I really enjoyed reading your personal theory, I haven't watched Teen Titans, so I wasn't sure about the reference, but yours was an interesting theory to read. I used yours as a debating point, I hope you don't mind however Mikey's is a little different though…**_

 _ **And finally see chapter 1 for the disclaimer, and please enjoy. BTW, Happy New Year!**_

"Well." Mikey stretched a little. "My idea is a little…weird, so pay attention."

"Right." Donnie looked doubtful.

"So first of all we have to look at where everyone got sent. You got sent to a really bad world, right?"

"Mmm-hmm." Donnie was getting that glassy look in his eyes again, his younger brother hurried on.

"Meanwhile I got sent to a world where our family where superhero's!"

"I know, you told me." Although his older brother's voice was dull and emotionless, the hint of a smile was forming around his lips.

"Yeah…but I've not been entirely honest." Mikey admitted.

That got Don's attention. "You weren't?"

"Nah, I told you guys we fought Silver, right?"

"Yes."

Mikey lifted a hand and pointed at Donnie. "But what I DIDN'T tell you was that Silver was Splinter."

Don took a couple of moments to digest that. "Silver…the enemy your versions of us were fighting…was Splinter? I thought you said they said they lost him?"

Mikey gave a slightly strained laugh. "They did! They lost him to evil. I think it was the alternative version of you who told me that, you have a habit of being honest without entirely telling the full story."

Donnie gave a small laugh and shrugged. "I just try to stop you guys worrying."

"I know, I know. Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah! So, we'll take mine and your worlds, because I don't know exactly what happened in Leo's and Raph's, deal? Unless of course you want to go and wake them…"

Donnie raised an eyebrow. "No thanks, I like my arms un-fractured, thanks very much."

"Just an idea. Anyway, we'll start with mine. I think that Draco sent us, wait for it….inside our own minds."

There was a pause. Then Don just went. "What?"

"Yeah! It's the perfect explanation!" Mikey got up and started pacing up and down. "Right, so none of us saw each other as we are now during the time we spent in different dimensions right?"

"Yes…"

"And what is a more perfect alternate dimension to be flung into than your own subconscious!"

"What? Wait, wouldn't it make more sense if the time I was travelling through time had no effect on me, but did on everyone else?" Donnie was getting into it now. "So in the eyes of everyone else I just disappeared because that's technically what I did? Logically, I couldn't be anywhere because I was travelling through time therefore couldn't be anywhere?"

Mikey paused, though it over and then shook his head. "That might explain yours, but it doesn't explain everyone else's."

Donnie tapped his fingers on the table. "None of us saw ourselves as we are now…"

"But we saw different versions of ourselves! That's what I'm saying, I saw you guys as superhero's! That's awesome; isn't it? Really you guys should be honoured, just saying." Mikey went over to the sink and got himself and Donnie a glass of water each.

"But you saw Splinter as evil." His purple-branded brother pointed out.

"I did. But he was lost to evil, now, I don't want you to think I'm being horrible here but I do sometimes wonder about father…"

"Wonder about him how?"

"I'm trying to tell you! Geez, quit butting in." Mikey hissed, suddenly aware they might be being loud enough to wake Leo and Raph. He paused and listened. Nothing. Sighing with relief he carried on explaining. "The way I see it, when Splinter mutated and met us, he had a choice. Either look after these four defenceless baby turtles or leave them to their own devices and go to try and swear revenge on Shredder, right?"

Donnie, looking intrigued at this point, nodded.

"So, we know what happens if he stays, this life, obviously, but what if he left? Well he would have already met us and mutated, and therefore we would have as well, so we wouldn't have to worry about still being non-nearly-human turtles. So say he wonders of and leaves us, we don't have discipline, proper training and have to fend for ourselves, so we have different names, different knowledge, and different strengths, you with me so far?"

Again Donnie nodded.

"Okay, switch over to Splinter, he decided to go and get revenge on shred-head as already stated, so he builds armour, trains himself more and all that stuff. He somehow manages to come up with the name Silver, god knows how, I'm still working on that bit, defeats Shredder and having had his taste of power becomes supreme ruler of the universe. Ah." Mikey paused. "Actually that doesn't work. They said 'we lost him to evil' which indicates they knew him before. Maybe he took them in raised them, giving them completely different names for god knows what reason, they managed to defeat Shredder at which point…"

By this time in his monologue Mikey was pacing up and down so fast Donnie thought he might be about to wear a hole through the concrete. "…At which point he said 'Okay, you've done my bidding – fend for yourselves and throws them out at a point where they're old enough to remember him as nice Splinter instead of evil Silver, but not old enough to be strong enough to defeat him straight away, maybe…ten? That's plausible, right?"

"Don't see why not." Donnie said, sipping on his water.

"So Splinter goes power-mad, renames himself Silver for some reason to be established later, the brothers train and aim to become strong enough to overthrow Splinter, I mean Silver. Silver, definitely Silver, and then your awesome-ness turns up and helps them to do it and what do you think of that?" Exhausted Mikey sat down and gulped down his water.

Donnie looked at him and said with a small smile. "I think you either have a fantastic imagination or a weird subconscious. So basically you're worried Splinter could have or still could turn to evil and that's where your experience came from."

Mikey nodded.

"Okay, brilliant, well, not brilliant, but you know what I mean. The point is, what about mine?"

"Yours?" Mikey took his glass to the sink and refilled it. "Your one is a little different, do you mind some blunt talking?"

Donnie shrugged. "Knock yourself out."

"Awesome! So, I'm going to ask you a simple question, ready?"

"Ready."

"Can you think of any situation that would make you willingly abandon us?"

"No." Donnie said firmly.

"Good, chill bro, that's what I thought. Okay, so what about against you will?"

Donnie considered. "My main thought is kidnapped, possibly by the Shredder, but we have other enemies as well…"

"Okay, so now, what do you think we'd do? Me, Raph and Leo."

"Well, hopefully you'd try and find me." His older brother said, in a deadpan manner.

"Obviously, yeah we would." Mikey was quick to assure him. "Okay, next question, honestly what do you think of our medical skills?"

Donnie couldn't have looked more surprised if he tried. "Medical skills?"

"If you went missing do you think we'd have the capability to do what you do?"

"Ah, with you. You, honestly no. You know a bit about the basics, but anything complicated and I know you'll go to pieces. Sorry, Mike."

"No, it's fine carry on."

"Leo I think would try and study it to the best of his knowledge, but he doesn't have the…how do I put it? Qualities needed to be a doctor. He wouldn't listen, always would think he knew best and if it was Raph I can see him getting fed up and sedating him just to get some peace and quiet. As for Raph, he knows quite a lot of First Aid, I have taught him. He knows what to do if an opponent cut one of our limbs of...oh." Donnie suddenly stopped.

Mikey frantically waved his hands to get him back to planet earth. "Forget that, Donnie? Don? Don-a-tel-lo? That's better." The youngest breathed a sigh of relief as Donnie's eyes swam back into focus. "What about April and Casey?"

"April I can see using every resource at her disposal to try and find me. Or any of us for that matter. Casey, I can see him and Raph trying to find me via fighting the Purple Dragons or The Foot."

"Good, good we're getting somewhere. Finally, what about me and Splinter?"

"I think you'd try and find me as well. Another thing I just though." Donnie went quiet again before suddenly starting up. "If I left, Raph and Leo would fight more I think."

"You do seem to be able to stop an argument with a look at times." Mikey commented.

"Oh, many years of practice, Mikey, many years of practice. Anyway, you tend to try and diffuse their fights by humour which doesn't work. Splinter can diffuse them easily, but after he dies, if I'm not there, who?"

"Okay, I think we have enough for my theory now." Mikey announced. "Ready."

"Totally."

"Okay, here goes. First of all the fact that they were surprised to see you indicated there'd stopped looking. However I think we can rule out you going of your free will, I can't see any situation that would logically have that outcome, so to speak. Oh, check me getting all scientific!" Mikey caught his brothers look. "Okay, carrying on. So they'll assume that you've been kidnapped. Now, step aside for a moment, the reason you're gone is because this is your subconscious worry of what will happen if you disappear, right? Just to get that clear."

"Carry on, Mikey."

"Got it, right so, they assume you've been kidnapped, they look for you, they don't find you because you're not anywhere, right? So tensions will rise, going of other times one of us has gone missing. Leo and Raph will fight more and I'll try to break it up. That won't work. Now Splinter gets older as time goes by, say that April is trying to look for you with Casey. Casey and Raph go out fighint together don't they?"

"Yeah."

"And Raph is hot-headed. Say they had a massive fight or they've had so many Raph has lost all repsect for Leo's opinion. So he and Casey find some Foot or Feet or whatever you want to call them and fight them. However probably because of the simple fact that Raph acts before thinking and also contributing the outside factors, he might slip up, get stabbed in the eye."

Donnie winced and Mikey looked at him sympathetically. "Yeah not a nice idea, sorry bro. he's injured, let's say that's where Casey is killed to. He goes back to the house, him and Leo get into another major fight. April finds out, she's already started the resistant with Casey. She goes mad and Raph's not exactly thrilled either, neither am I or Splinter for that matter. Basically we're all really annoyed, so we go and storm Shredders hide-out as revenge for both Casey and also with a hope of finding you. Now, Leo gets wind of this and decides to fight for 'honour' or simply because he's protective of us and at that point he probably doesn't want to lose someone else, with me?"

Donnie smiled softly. "That does sounds like Leo."

"So of they go, except even with Leo's brilliant leadership qualities, we don't have you to do all the technical things, so they fight. Leo's ends up blind and I end up with my half my arm sliced of. Again sorry for the imagery. Now, as you correctly pointed out Raph knows how to deal with sliced-of limbs…"

"Amputation."

"Whatever. The point is that's why I don't die. Leo's eyes are probably really messed up, which might explain why he wears the glasses. And Splinter dies as well, protecting us, like you said. Although he might have died because none of us know as much about medicine as you do. Anyway April lives. With me so far?"

"Yeah." Donnie's voice sounds small and childlike, slightly startled by this it took a couple of moments before Mikey was able to speak again.

"Good! Er…where was I? Oh yeah! So, by now the family is really fractured, we've lost you and Splinter. Raph and Leo get into a raging argument and Leo tries to deal with it himself, but can't so he bottles it up instead. To avoid injuring Raph further, or me for that matter, he removes himself from the picture. Simple. Except not really because he doesn't explain this to Raph, Raph's furious, thinking Leo's abandoning us in our time of need. He is, but not for the reason's Raph thinks. So Raph storms of. Me and April band together and run the resistance. As the years go by Leo and Raph have calmed down and probably re-thought their actions. But because they're both so pig-headish and stubborn they don't want to admit it. And they don't want to go to the resistance, because where would they start? Plus they might bump into the other. What happened when you got there out of interest?"

Donnie flinched before hesitatingly explaining the events that lead to Raph, Leo and Mikey's death.

There was a heavy silence then Mikey nodded. "So…despite the fact you were wearing heavy machinery…it didn't help? You couldn't save us?"

His older brother frowned a little. "You don't have to rub it in."

"I'm not." The younger said, hastily. "I'm not trying to at least. But remember, this is all subconscious. Of course…of there's a though…"

"What's a though, Mikey?"

"The reason we died, despite your best efforts was because you don't think…you don't think you'll be able to save us…if something…really does…go…wrong." The orange banded turtle spoke hesitantly, partly because the idea was just forming and partly because he was watching Donnie's face, which crumpled further as Mikey carried on talking.

As his brother finished his theory, Donnie burst into tears. Mikey was immediately up and hugging him. "Calm down, Donnie, calm down. There we go." By this point Mikey was wondering if everyone in his family had turned deaf. For a family of ninjas who prided themselves on observation they weren't being very observational.

"Sorry." Don hiccupped. "Oh god, I'm being such a wimp. Raph would hate me…"

"I think Raph would understand." Mikey said, reassuringly.

"Why do I have such a depressing subconscious?"

The youngest considered. "I think it's because you want all of us to be safe. That's why you've made the security, that's why you're always working to get things fixed. You don't want the subconscious to become the conscious so to speak. Donnie look at me."

His brother did so.

"Listen up, because for the rest of the year you won't get another gem like this. I can't assure you that future isn't going to happen because it might. Fighting with the Shredder is so unpredictable no one knows what the future holds. But I do know if you ever went missing we would search everywhere for you. Plus we'd have some idea of where you were when you were taken and who took you. And knowing you you'd leave us some clues."

Donnie gave a laugh. "What like Scoby-Doo?"

"Yeah, but without the dog, which is kinda the point of Scooby-Doo, but I'm getting off track. The chances of your subconscious becoming reality has as much chance as Splinter turning evil or us four being named Graviturtle, Shellectro, Griddex and Blobboid. And yes, those were seriously their names."

Donnie was full on smiling by now. "Shellectro sounds a cool name."

"Really, I prefer Blobboid. Anyway, are we sorted?"

Donnie sat up straight. "Sorted."

"Brilliant, let's go back to bed then because there's a, oh flip, an hour and 47 minutes till training."

"You do realize that means we've been talking for 2 hours three minutes, right?"

"Geez, if Splinter asks this never happened right?"

Donnie rolled his eyes as he got up. "Oh, don't worry, I'm not going to go spreading this around the lair."

And so together they left the kitchen.


End file.
